Art therapy to reduce burnout in oncology and palliative care doctors: a pilot study

ABSTRACT

Doctors are frequently exposed to work-related stressors putting them at risk of burnout and affecting patient safety. This has long been recognised in oncology and palliative care staff members, with as many as 70% of young oncologists in Europe reporting burnout. Our objective was to use art therapy, which has been shown to combat the symptoms of burnout, on a cohort of trainee doctors in these high-risk specialities. In this pilot study, an art therapist ran three courses for oncology and palliative care trainee doctors, each comprised of six art therapy sessions. The Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) was completed pre- and post-intervention and a feedback questionnaire completed at the end of each course. Eighteen participants were recruited. MBI-HSS scores from 14 participants showed that the mean pre-intervention scores of the participants demonstrated burnout. Following the course there were statistically significant improvements in emotional exhaustion (p=< 0.001) and personal achievement (p = 0.011) (removing one outlying participant’s score from the latter). Feedback was overwhelmingly positive with most respondents finding the course ‘very helpful’. The results of the pilot study demonstrated that six weeks of structured art therapy sessions resulted in positive change in our participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Cancer
• palliative care
• burnout
• compassion fatigue
• art therapy
• medical staff

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Mark Barrington (Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Head of Cancer Psychological Services) for his unwavering and pragmatic support of art therapy in cancer services, Dr Chris Gallagher (Consultant Medical Oncologist) who initiated art therapy at our pilot hospital 25 years ago, Dr Simon Hallam (Consultant Haematologist) who facilitated and encouraged doctors to participate, the Corinne Burton Memorial Trust and the Barts Charity. We are also immensely grateful to Dr Stephanie Archer (Research Associate, Behaviour and Health Research Unit) for her invaluable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript, although any errors are our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Megan Tjasink is Lead Art Psychotherapist in Cancer Psychological Services, Barts Health NHS Trust. Megan is also a lecturer and admissions tutor on the MA Art Therapy at the University of Hertfordshire. Megan studied Fine Art and Psychology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa before undertaking an MA in Art Therapy at the University of Hertfordshire. Having worked in hospice and hospital settings for nearly 20 years, Megan has formed a strong and abiding interest in art therapy not only with patients facing life threatening illness, but with the medical professionals caring for them too.

Gehan Soosaipillai is a Medical Oncology Speciality Doctor at Barts Health NHS Trust, currently taking time out of the training programme as a Clinical Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Gehan’s research interests include using innovative training tools to empower clinicians to break bad news, ensure patient-centred care and facilitate advance care planning, particularly for those at the end of life. As a trainee doctor, he has seen the effects of burnout in colleagues and has worked to find solutions for this.

ORCID

Gehan Soosaipillai http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5104-7920